How many of you remember the game 6 Degrees of Separation in which one tries to find 6 "links" or less between yourself and someone famous. For instance, I live in Hawaii, Hawaii is the fiftieth state of the United States of America, my brother's fiftieth birthday is tomorrow, my brother lives in Oregon, Oregon is where Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons) lives - that's how I'm connected to Matt Groening. It takes some thinking, but if done correctly one can connect, or link, themselves to just about anyone or anything.
Unfortunately, the same can be said with the words written in the bible. Throughout history the "scriptures" have been used to defend everything from discrimination to genocide. Hitler's attempt to wipe out all Jews came from a literal interpretation of the bible (don't take my word for it, look it up). The crusades against Muslims began because Christians saw them as a threat to the "one true" way to God. Women, racial minorities, homosexuals, the poor, and most (if not all) other extremely divisive social issues all came about because of someone's, or some group's, literal interpretation of the bible. Each person or group picking a verse here and a verse there, then making the connections as they see fit.
Call it 6 Degrees to Hell.
In today's passage Paul reminds us that there are no degrees of separation between us and the love of God - none. So why then does humanity continue to create and live by the separations we make ourselves?
In the mid-1800s a man named Arthur de Gobineau created what is thought to be the first attempt at categorizing humanity into a sort of hierarchy. Of course, in his thinking, and because he was an educated westerner, Europeans and educated westerners were at the top of the list. The list continued with Asians as second, middle easterners were third (including India), followed by Native American Indians, and lastly Negroes. This became the accepted list of the time, and is what the Nuremberg laws were modeled after.
Before this time people were doing their best to assimilate into the culture they were trying to live in - for the most part. But, now that there was an acknowledged chart produced by a knowledgeable man, people could be put in their place according to their racial ethnicity.
Not that there wasn't already a division among people based on the color of their skin, socio-economic situations, gender, and religion happening already, but this chart, if you will, gave it solidity; now there was scientific proof to back up religious claims.
For the next 150 years the people at the bottom of that list have been working towards societal equity, as have everyone else who is considered an outsider of normal society. And yet, here was the Apostle Paul, 2000 years ago, trying to remind us that such separations do not exist in the eyes, or the mind, or the heart, or most importantly the Spirit of God.
Why, then, does humanity insist on continuing to place degrees of separation between ourselves?
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